Classical Clerihews
Polyphemus
thought he wouldn’t seem as
absurd and comical
with a contact lens instead of a monocle.
Nausicaa
lived on Corfu, or maybe Sicily or even Corsica.
She didn’t sign her work, through modesty,
but may be the real author of The Odyssey.
Circe
was told “Men are swine” by Nursie.
Growing up she thought, “To hell with metaphor—
literal is what men are better for.”
Zeus
always wanted someone to seduce
but as his wife Hera knew his every whim
he turned into a bull or swan so she wouldn’t know it was him.
Alex Barr‘s poetry collections are Letting in the Carnival from Peterloo Poets and Henry’s Bridge from Starborn Books, both in the UK. He is co-author of “Orchards,” a verse translation of Rilke’s French poem sequence “Vergers.” Recent poems have appeared in Poetry Review, Scintilla, and The Dark Horse. He lives in Wales.